1 Day Before Issa Rae

As spring is upon us, University Union has many exciting events coming up. One of these exciting events include the amazing Issa Rae, star of Insecure, coming to campus tomorrow, joined by Entertainment Weekly’s on-air correspondent, Zuri Hall. Issa has used her powerful voice to speak about the many racial issues that affect our every daily life. She highlights the many stereotypes about African American women in Hollywood, and she is ready to make a change. She decided to use her humor and talent to start conversations about the experiences and issues that African Americans face. Issa became determined to broadcast these experiences to the mainstream media in an unapologetic, inspiring way. With a jaw dropping 20 million views and over 200,000 YouTube subscribers, Issa is not someone to miss out on!

Issa’s first web series, Awkward Black Girl premiered on YouTube in 2011. It was instantly a hit through the exposure on blogs and social media. She is unafraid to speak about the many issues she has faced, and thousands are appreciative of her honest approach to discussing racial injustice in our society. As she steadily rose to success, Issa published a novel called The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, which became a New York Times best seller. This was a novel based on her life, and she discusses her personal battle of not fitting in, and her journey to accepting and being confident about her race. Shortly after, she began creating a show that is loosely based off Awkward Black Girl. Eventually, it was given the name Insecure and it premiered exclusively on HBO in the fall of 2016. Issa wrote, produced, and acted in the series. Since then, she was nominated at the Golden Globes for her acting in Insecure and has been given international praise for her creativity. Issa shows no signs of slowing down, and she is someone I am so excited to see grow and reach all the success she deserves. Issa will be speaking on campus tomorrow, March 31st from 8:00 to 9:00 pm at Goldstein Auditorium. Don’t miss out!